Although glaciers are large slow and
eroding, they provide a few useful contributions to people:

Glaciers Provide Drinking Water

People living in the city of La Paz, Bolivia, rely on
glacial melting from a nearby ice cap to provide water during
the
significant dry spells they experience.

Although parts of Japan receive tremendous amounts of
snow, there are no glaciers. Because the Japanese must endure
frequent droughts, scientists are examining ways to create
artificial glaciers that could provide more water for people
when the weather is dry.

Glaciers Irrigate Crops

Over a thousand years ago, farmers in Asia knew that
dark colors absorb the solar energy. So, they spread
dark-colored materials such as soil and ashes over snow
to promoted melting, and this is how they watered their crops
in the springtime. Chinese and Russian researchers have
recently tried something similar by sprinkling coal dust onto
glaciers, hoping that the melting will provide water to
the drought-stricken countries of India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
However, the experiment proved to be too costly, and they
have abandoned the idea.

In Switzerland's Rhone Valley, farmers have irrigated
their crops for hundreds of years, by channeling meltwater from
glaciers to their fields.

Glaciers Help Generate Hydroelectric Power

Scientists and engineers in Norway, Canada, New Zealand
and the Alps have worked together to tap into glacial
resources, using electricity that has been generated in
part by damming glacial meltwater.

Usually, glaciers are found in remote
areas but some are located nera cities and towns and can present
a danger to the people living there. On land, lakes formed on
top of a glacier during the melt season might cause flooding.
At the end of a valley glacier, ice falling from it is a hazard
to the people below. Icebergs can form when the ice breaks off
over the ocean and pose problems for ships.In
1941, 6,000 people in Huaraz, Peru died when a glacial lake burst
open and flooded the town. Today, another lake has formed at
the base of the glacier but channels have been built to prevent
another flood.

Avalanches- Ice avalanches in the Swiss
Alps have continued for centuries and have defied all attempts
to stop them. "In 1965, Switzerland was constructing a dam
for a hydro-electric plant above the town of Mattmark."
Suddenly, a huge
ice mass broke off from a nearby glacier and in seconds the avalanche
had surged down the slopes and buried most of the construction
camp. 88 workers were killed in this natural disaster.

Icebergs- Icebergs which break off from
ice shelves and tidewater glaciers are hazardous to shipping
worldwide. In April 1912, an iceberg ripped a 90 meter hole in
the hull of the Titanic and 1,503 people were killed as a result.
The sea lanes between Greenland and Newfoundland in Canada are
historically iceberg infested.

Recently, an iceberg over 80 kilometers
long and 40 kilometers wide broke away from the Larsen Ice Shelf
in Antarctica. Since this iceberg might be a threat to southern
shipping lanes, it is being closely watched by satellites and
airplanes.